Tobacco looper mechanism



Sept 30, 1958 K. R. CLINE ETAL TOBACCO LooPER MECHANISM v 6 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Jan. 20, 1958 IN VENTORS dm? @W /W jw'fez ATTORNF'VS o fami/'Mw Y l f/m Sept. 3Q, 1958l K. R. CLINE Erm.

TOBACCO LooPER MECHANISM 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 20, 1958 QN mw um f.. m) RY NNIHINM.. mm, o WW @www Nw m Q Y www Nk 5% mewm .WMQ www.;

www

Sept. 30, 1958 K. R. CLINE Erm. 2,854,151

'roBAcco LooPER MECHANISM Filed Jan. 20, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 muy ll ATTORNEYS Sept 30 1958 K. R. CLINE Erm. 2,854,151

TOBACCO LOOPER MECHANISM Filed Jan. 20, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 c INVENTORS @Wi/ff ZW @d 1l/@inf @Ween 13% my ATTORNE sept. so, 195s K. R; @JNE ETAL 2,854,151

TOBACCO LOOPER MECHANISM Filed Jan. 20, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 I u INVENTORS ZW/ @MJ @piggy ATTORNEYS K. R. CLINE ETAL TOBACCO LooPER MECHANISM Sept; 30, 1958 Filed Jan. 20, 1958 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORS www? Mime @fw 4i/diff @S0/wry Bw? ATTORNEYS Unite States Patent O ronacco woran MECHANISM Kermit R. Cline and Alien R. Spreen, Richmond, Va., as-

signor-s to Southern Steel & Stove Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Virginia Application `lanuary 2t), 1958, Serial No. 709,891 7 claims. (ci. 214-55) The present invention relates in general to tying hands of tobacco or other farm produce, and more particularly to a tobacco looping mechanism for facilitating the stringing and hanging of tobacco hands on sticks or laths which is particularly adaptable to be associated with mobile tobacco harvesting apparatus.

In the harvesting of tobacco, it has been the practice to strip the leaves from the standing tobacco plant and assemble them in some manner in bundles of three to 'live leaves, known as hands of tobacco, which hands are then hung in groups of to 30 bundles over a long stick or lath which is eventually racked up in a curing barn for the curing of the tobacco leaves. The common practice for gathering or harvesting of the tobacco leaves has been for a large number of workmen, known as pickers or primers, to walk between two rows of tobacco and strip the leaves from the standing plants, and either place them directly on a tobacco truck which is pulled along between rows of tobacco and anked by the primers, or to accumulate a suitable number of leaves and then carry them to a tobacco truck which may be situated several rows away. After the truck is fully loaded, it is usually transported to another area where different workmen assemble the leaves together in hands and drape the hands of tobacco over the drying sticks. Heretofore, this assembling of the tobacco leaves into hands has usually been accomplished by manually tying or looping a long string about the stems of the tobacco leaves, or Stringing the hands onto the string by passing a needle, carried by the string at its free end, through the butts of the leaves, and then fastening the opposite ends of the string to the ends of the drying stick and draping the hands in alternate fashion along opposite sides of the drying stick.

This procedure is quite slow and time-consuming, thereby subjecting the farmer to high labor costs and rendering it difficult to harvest the tobacco leaves during the short period they are in prime condition. Also, due to the extensive manual labor that must go into the preparation of the tobacco for curing in accordance with this procedure, it is exceedingly difficult to maintain uniformity of disposition of the hands on each drying stick and to guard against breaking or otherwise damaging the leaves, thereby reducing the possibility of preserving optimum quality of the cured product.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is the provision of novel apparatus for use in connection with tobacco harvesting operations for securing tobacco leaves in bundles or hands to facilitate mounting of the tobacco leaves on drying sticks in condition for curing.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of novel tobacco looping apparatus for automatically securing a plurality of tobacco leaves in hands or bundles and arranging the same for disposition on drying sticks.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of novel tobacco looping apparatus for securing into bundles a plurality of tobacco leaves presented to the apparatus by a picker, which apparatus is particularly suitable for installation on mobile tobacco harvesting apparatus.

Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating one preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a side elevation of a tobacco looper mechanism embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the tobacco looper mechanism as the same would appear when viewed from the rear of a tobacco harvester on which the looper mechanism is mounted;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the tobacco looper mechanism;

Figure 4 is a vertical section taken along the line 4 4 of Figure l;

Figure 5 is a horizontal section taken along the line 5 5 of Figure l;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the looper head;

Figures 7a-7g are pairs of top and side views of the looper fork diagramming the looper fork action at various stages in its cycle of operation; and

Figure 8 is a perspective view of one of the string clamps.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures, the tobacco looper mechanism of the present invention, is in the form of a unitary assembly supported on a base plate 11 to be mounted at a convenient location on a mobile tobacco harvester unit or on suitable supporting stanchions or frame members for use in a curing barn or other desired location. The heart of the looper mechanism comprises looper head 10 formed of a pair of coextensive, vertically aligned, U-shaped forks 12, 13 which are supported for rectilinear reciprocal movement and rotation below the base plate 11. The jaws 14, 15, respectively, of the U-shaped forks 12, 13, as more clearly appears in Figure 3, each dene substantially a semicircle, and the adjacent faces thereof are provided with ribs 16, 17 bounding the inner arcuate surfaces of the jaws. The upper fork 12 is pivotally coupled at the throat thereof, as indicated at 1S, to the lower fork 13, and when the forks 12, 13 are in `closed position contacting each other, as illustrated in Figures l and 2, the ribs 16, 17 meet to deline the base of a U-shaped channel 19 extending about the jaws 14, 15 for the reception of the tobacco supporting string 2) in a manner to be later described.

The lower U-shaped fork 13 is provided with a stem 21 extending rearwardly from the juncture of the fork jaws by which the pair of forks 12, 13 are supported from the base plate. The stem 21 is of circular cross-section and is supported for rotation in bearings 22 housed in a pair of spaced supporting blocks 23, 24 ai'lxed to and depending from a slide plate 25. The slide plate 25 is supported for sliding movement on the base plate 11 along a rectilinear axis between two guide members 26 to carry the looper head 10 between the position illustrated in Figure 7c and the position illustrated in Figure 7d. A gear assembly 27 is keyed on the fork stem 21 and includes a spur gear 28 and an integral circular locating plate 29 having a locating socket 29 in the rearmost face thereof cooperating with the ball of a spring ball check unit 30 housed in the rear bearing block 24 and its associated bearing plate 24 to resiliently locate the forks 12, 13 in the angular position illustrated in Figure 2.

A string guide assembly 31 is provided to position string supplied from a spool 32 in proper position of address relative to the forks 12, 13 whereby a reach of the string Z will be disposed in the plane extending through the mutually contacting surfaces of the ribs on the forks 12, 13 and lying to the left of the outer ends of the jaws 14, 15 as viewed in Figure 2. The string guide assembly is supported on the base plate 11 and comprises a lirst string guide eye 33, a conventional string Vtension assembly 34, and a plurality of xed string guide eyes 35, 36, 37 and 38 supported on ,a ybracket 39 affixed to and projected slightly from an end of the base plate 11. A guide eye 40 located between the guide eyes 36 and 37 lis fixed in the end of a swinging string guide 41 pivoted on a guide pin 42 mounted on the base plate11 and resiliently biased away from the position illustrated in Figures l and 3 by a spring 43, The string is vdrawn horizontally to the Vleft as viewed in Figure l from the guide eye 3S over the quadrature related arms 44', of a pair of turning guides 44 to a driven produce conveyor mechanism or transporting mechanism indicated generally by the reference character 45. The produce conveyor mechanism 45 may cornprise an endless chain or belt provided with string gripping clamps, as described more fully hereafter, which engage the string at spaced` points to the left of the turning guides 44, as viewed in Figure l, and draw the string from the guide eye 3S toward a stick loading station, or may be any string drafting facility of known construction in the art for periodically gripping the string and drawing it from the looper.

The turning guides 44 operate in a similar fashion to turnstiles and comprise the quadrature related arms 44 which radiate from a pair of shafts 46 suspended from bearings in the turning guide block 47 affixed to the lower surface of the base plate 11. Portions of the shafts 46 project into cut-away portions at the ends of the turning guide block 47 and have cams 46 affixed thereto cooperating with cam stops 47 which are housed in the turning guide block 47 and are spring biased toward the cams to resiliently limit rotation of the turning guides 44 to steps of 9() degrees. A guide block 48 is positioned alongside the path ofthe string Z0 and is provided with relieved sectors 49 for accommodating the offset ends of the turning guide arms 44. The surface 50 of the bleek 48 serves to restrain the string 2i) in supported relation on the arms 'i4' against the offset shoulders 44a of the arms. The upper U-shaped fork 12 is designed to be pivoted upwardly about the pivot 18 to the open position illustrated vin Figure 7b when the tobacco or produce picker or primer strikes a trip 51 in presenting the hand of tobacco leaves to the space within the jaws ofthe forks 12, 13. The trip conforms substantially to the U shape of the jaws 14, 15 and is designed to be forced upwardly about the pivot 18 when the operator moves the stems of the leaves upwardly into the space between the jaws of the forks. The trip 51 is suspended from the pivot 18 by means of a trip lever 52 affixed at its lower end to the right hand end -of the trip 51 and pivo-ted at a point intermediate its upper and lower ends on the pivot 18. A lift pin 53 atlixed at its lower end to the trip 51 projects through a complementary aperture in the lower fork 13 and bears against the upper fork 12 to force the upper fork upwardly about its pivot 18 to open position upon clockwise movement of the trip 51 from the position illustrated in Figure l. A spring biased trip latch 54 is pivotally supported on a post 55 fixed to the throat of the lower fork 13 and urged clockwise to engage the latching formation 56 on the upper end of the trip lever 52 to latch the trip 51 and upper fork 12 in open position upon actuation of the trip to open the upper fork 12. A coil spring 57 surrounds the lift pin 53 and extends between the trip S1 and lower fork 13 to resiliently urge the trip 51 downwardly to the position illustrated in Figure 2. Also, a return spring 57' extends between the upper part of post 55 and the fork 12 to close fork 12 on fork 13 when trip 51 is released to the position shown inFigures 2 and 4.

Y `A mercuryrswit-ch or similar switch, not shown, is

'1 associated with the trip 51, the upper fork 12, the trip latch 54 or other suitable elements, for closing an electrical circuit in response to shifting of the trip 51 to forkopening position to energize a solenoid-controlled clutch,

schematically indicated at 53, for coupling a shaft 59,y

hereinafter termed the pillow block shaft, with a suitable power source, not shown. rl`here is keyed on the pillow block shaft 59 a bevel gear 60 which engages a companion bevel gear 61 xed to a shaft 62,`hereinafter termed the intermediate shaft, journalled for rotation in suitable bearing V,blocks depending from the base plate 11. The opposite end of the intermediate shaft 62 carries .a sprocket 63 which is coupled by a chain 64 with a sprocket 65 xed to a shaft 66 journalled in suitable bearings 67 carried by a bracket 68 mounted on the base plate 11- The shaft 66 also carries a sprocket 69 which, in the preferred embodiment herein shown, is coupled by a chain 70 with a produce conveyor drive sprocketv 71 to drive a chain sprocket 172 about which an endless produce conveyor chain 173 is trained. The chain 173 is also trained about another sprocket spaced to the left as viewed in Figure l from the sprocket 172 by a distance substantially greater than the length of the tobacco sticks on which the hands of tobacco are to be hung. The produce conveyor chain 173 in this exemplary form of string drafting facility may carry a plurality of spaced string clamps 174 comprising a base 175 fixed to the chain 173, a fixed jaw 176 on the base 175, and a pivoted jaw 177 having an extension 178 to be engaged by suitable stationary trip members (not shown) positioned in the path n of movement of the extension 178 to pivot the jaw 177 in a direction to open the jaws 176, 177 as the clamps 174 approach the path of the string 20 and release the jaw 177 to be closed by its spring 179 when the clamp 174 reaches the string path to clasp the string 2li and draw it horizontally from the guide eye 38. it will be understood that the instrumentality driven by the sprocket 69 may be any other instrumentality desired for drawing lthe string 2l) horizontally and to the left kalong the path illustrated in Figure l.

The pillow block shaft extends above the bevel gearV 60 to the pillow block assembly, generally indicated at 72, and is keyed at its upper end to a pillow block gear 73 which is intercoupled through idler gear 74 with another pillow block gear 75.k These gears are all journalled in suitable bearings supported by a bracket 72 depending frorn the base plate 11. The pillow block gear 75 is coupled to a shaft 76 which projects upwardly through the base plate 11 and is keyed at its upper end to a cam 77. Cooperating with the cam 77 is a cam follower 7S supported on a bent lever 79 pivoted on a pivot post 80 projecting upwardly from a lever mounting support 81 which is bolted to the base plate 11. The opposite end rof the lever 79 is coupled by a double lever S2 with alever 83 which is pivoted at one end on a pivot post 84 projecting lupwardly from the base plate A11. The opposite end ofthe lever 83 is coupled by a link 85 with the fork supporting slide 25. Thus, when the solenoidcontrolled clutch 58 is energized in response to striking of the trip 51 and the pillow block shaft 59 is rotated to drive the produce conveyor unit, the pillow block gearsr 73, 74 and 75 are also rotated to drive the cam 77 and actuate the levers 79, 82 and 33 and link 85 to shift the fork-supporting slide 25 to the left from the position illustrated in Figure 2 in timed relation to driving of the produce conveyor. The stroke of the levers 79, 82 and 83 is such as to shift the forks 12 and 13 from the position illustrated in Figure 7c to the position illustrated in Figure 7d wherein the string-receiving channel 19 is positioned in alignment with the guide eye 38. At this position, a trip release lever 86 pivotally supported on the slide 25 and projecting below the slide to a point adjacent the trip latch 54 and vat the other end to a selected point above the slide, contacts a trip release block 87 which is mounted on the base plate 11. The trip release formation 88 on the release block 87 engages the upwardly projecting end of the trip release lever 86 and shifts the same to bring the lower end of the release lever 86 into engagement with the trip latch 54, releasing the release lever 52 from its latched position wherein the forks 12, 13 are held in open position. Upon release of the trip lever 52, the forks 12, 13 are then snapped closed by the springs 57 and 57'.

Also disposed in a central location on the intermediate shaft 62 is a sector gear 90 which periodically engages the spur gear 28 keyed to the fork stem 21 to rotate the forks 12, 13 through 360 degrees about their common axis in selected timed relation during the cycle of operation of the looper mechanism. A suitable aperture 91 is provided in the base plate 11 above the selector gear 90 to accommodate the sector gear during rotation of the same.

In the cycle of operation of the apparatus, the string 20 is normally formed into a loop by. the looper forks 12, 13 in the manner illustrated in Figure 7a, the looper forks 12, 13 occupying the position illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. The tobacco picker or primer gathers the tobacco and inserts it within the jaws 14, of the forks 12, 13 with the stems of the leaves disposed upwardly and extending into the loop formed with the string 20. In presentin'y the bundle of the tobacco leaves into the loop the tobacco picker strikes the trip 51 which shifts in a clockwise direction about its pivot 18, as viewed in Figure 2, and opens the forks 12, 13 by pivoting the upper fork 12 upwardly about the pivot 18, the forks thereby assuming the position illustrated in Figure 7b. This opening movement of the jaws 14, 15 releases the portions of the loops formed in the string 20, whereupon the string is tightened about the stems of the tobacco leaves by the swinging guide 41 which is resiliently biased away from alignment with the guide eyes 36, 37 by the spring 43. This action trips a mercury switch or the like, as previously described, which in turn energizes the solenoid-clutch 58 to couple rotating power to the pillow block shaft 59. This drives produce conveyor sprocket 71 or other device designed to draw the string 20 from the guide eye 3S to a stick loading station, driving force being coupled through the bevel gears 6i), 61, intermediate shaft 62, sprocket 63, chain 64, sprocket 65, shaft 66, sprocket 69 and chain 70. The portion of the string projecting to the left of the base plate 11 as viewed in Figure 1, is preferably clasped by the string clamps 174 carried by the chain 173 on the produce conveyor sprocket 71, thus drawing the hand or bundle of tobacco retained in the loop which is released from the forks 12, 13 away from the forks and toward the turning guides 44. The turning guides 44 rotate in turnstile fashion as the hands of tobacco pass between the quadrature related arms 44, the offset terminal portions of the arms 44 serving to hold ,the string at a selected height lying within the bisecting horizontal plane of the forks 12, 13 as the string extends to the left of the forks as viewed in Figure l. The guide eye 3S holds the string at the selected height to the right of the forks 12, 13, as viewed in Figure l. As soon as the produce conveyor, or other string drafting facility, pulls the bundle of tobacco away from the forks 12, 13, the cam 77 reaches a position whereby the levers 79, 82 and 83, and link S5 are actuated to shift the slide and the forks 12, 13 carried thereby in the direction of the string 20 from the position illustrated in Figure 7c to the position illustrated in Figure 7d. During this movement of the forks 12, 13, the forks are held open by the trip latch 54, whereby the reach of the string 20 immediately `to the left of the guide eye 38, as viewed in Figure l, passes between the jaws 14, 15 of the forks into registry with the portion of the string-receiving channel 19 disposed adjacent the juncture of the jaws 14, 15 with the fork stem 21, hereinafter referred to as the rear portion of the channel 19. At the forwardmost or left hand end of the stroke of the slide 25 and forks 12, 13, as viewed in Figure 2, the end of the trip release lever 86 which projects above the slide 25 is engaged by the trip release formation 88 on the trip release block 87, which actuates the trip release lever 86 to engage and release the trip latch 54 to disengage the same from the latching formation 56 on the trip lever 52. This releases the trip 51 to return to the position illustrated in Figure 2, whereupon the springs 57 and 57 snap the forks 12, 13 to closed position, retaining the string 20 in the rearmost portion of the string-receiving channel 19. Continued movement of the cam 77 and the levers 79, 82 and 83 and link S5 then effect a return of the slide 25 and forks 12, 13 to the position illustrated in Figure 2, the string 20 being then drawn about the ribs 16, 17 of the forks 12, 13 into a U-shaped path in the manner illustrated in Figures 7e and 7f. At the conclusion of this return stroke of the forks 12, 13, the sector gear which is keyed to the driven intermediate shaft 72 comes into engagement with the spur gear 28 on the fork stem 21 and revolves the forks 12, 13 through 360 degrees, winding the U-shaped portion of the string 20 defined by the string-receiving channel 19 into a closed loop, as illustrated in Figure 7g. The forks 12, 13 and tobacco-receiving loop, upon completion of revolution of the forks, then occupies the position illustrated in Figure 7a wherein the string loop is conditioned to receive another bundle of tobacco leaves. Precise angular orientation of the forks 12, 13 in horizontal position is insured at the completion of each revolution of the forks by the coaction of the spring pressed ball check unit 30 with the socket 29 in the locating plate 29. When the string is pulled to the right by the forks 12, 13 as viewed in Figure 2, the spring tension assembly 34 holds the string 20 securely enough to force the swinging string guide 41 to return to the position illustrated in Figure 2. The turning guides 45 turn through an angle of 90 degrees each time they are engaged by a hand of tobacco, positive positioning of the turning guide arms 44 being insured by the spring-backed cam stops 50 engaging the turning guide cams 49.

While only one preferred embodiment of the invention has been particularly shown and described, it is apparent that other modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and it is desired, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art and are set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. Apparatus for looping a plurality of tobacco leaves or the like into a bundle in a string extending along a rectilinear path through a looping station comprising a loop-forming means for drawing a portion of the string laterally from said axis into a U and rotating the U- shaped string portion about the axis of the U to form a closed loop for reception of a bundle of tobacco leaf stems therein, cycle-initiating means positioned to be actuated upon insertion of the stems into said loop, means responsive to actuation of said cycle-initiating means for releasing said loop from `said loop-forming means, tightening said loop about said stems, and actuating said loopforming means to form another loop in the string in spaced succeeding relation to said first-mentioned loop.

2. Apparatus for looping a plurality of tobacco leaves or the like into a bundle in a string extending along a rectilinear path through a looping station comprising a loop-forming means for forming a portion of the string into a bight offset laterally from the rectilinear path of the string and rotating the bight to close the legs of the bight and form a closed loop for reception of a bundle of tobacco leaf stems therein, means positioned to be actuated by the hand of the yoperator upon insertion of the stems into said bight, and means responsive to actuation of the last-mentioned means for releasing said bight from the means forming the same, tightening said bight .about said stems, and initiating a cycle of operation of 7 said =bightforming means to form another loop in the string.

3. Apparatus for looping a plurality of tobacco leaves or vthe like into bundles at predetermined spaced points along a string comprising means for guiding the string along a rectilinear axis through a looping station, loop` forming means fordrawing -a portion of the string laterally from said axis into a U and rotating the U-shaped string portion about the axis of the U to form a closed loop for reception of a bundle of tobacco -leaf stems therein, cycle-initiating means positioned to be actuated upon insertion of the stems into said loop, means responsive to actuation of said cycle-initiating means for releasing Vsaid loop from said loop-forming means, tightening ysaid loop about said stems, drawing the looped bundle from said looping station, and actuating said loop-forming means Vto form another loop in the string in spaced succeeding relation to said first-mentioned loop.

4. Apparatus for looping hands of tobacco or the like at predetermined spaced points along .a string comprisingV means for guiding the string along a rectilinear axis through a looping station, a reciprocative fork means having pivotally related jaws defining a U-shaped channel for periodically engaging said string at said looping station and deforming the string laterally of said rectilinear axis into a U, means for rotating said fork means about its axis after deforming said string into said U to form said-U into a closed loop extending llaterally of said axis for reception of a bundle of tobacco leaf stems therein along a direction extending axially ofthe loop, trip means positioned to be actuated by the hand of the operator upon insertion of the tobacco leafstems into said loop for releasing said string from said fork means, string takeup means for tightening the loop about the stems disposed therein upon release of Ysaid fork means, and means responsive to actuation of said trip means for withdrawing the loop formed about the group of tobacco leaves from said looping station and operating said for-k means to form a new loop at said looping station.

5. Apparatus for looping groups of tobacco leaves or the like into bundles atpredetermined spaced-points along a string comprising string guiding means for positioning the string along a selected rectilinear axis at a` looping station, means for drawing the string through said looping station, a reciprocative fork member having a pair of U-shaped jawsmovable relativeto each other to o'pen and closed positions normally disposed laterally of said string axis at the commencement of each cycle of operation, cooperative means on the adjacent faces of said jaws forming a U-shaped string guiding channel when said jaws are in closed relation, cyclic operating means associated with said fork means including means for opening said jaws, means for advancing said jaws toward said string `to position the bridge portion of said U-shaped channel in registry with said string axis, means for closing said jaws when said channel achieves registry with said axis, means for withdrawing said jaws from said string axis to deform said string into a U about said string-guiding channel, and means for rotating said fork means about its axis upon its return to normal position to form the U-shaped string position into a closed loop for reception of a bundle of tobacco leaf stems therein, trip means positioned to be actuated by the hand of the operator during` insertion of the leaf stems into said loop to commence operation of said cyclic operating means, means for tightening the loop about of said jaws.

' ing said parts about said axis upon their returnv to' said ingpsaid string-drawing means'to draw Vthe looped bundle from said looping station in timed relation to opening -6.-Apparatus for looping hands of tobacco leaves or the like into bundles at spaced points along a string comprising string-guiding means `for guiding Vthe string along a fixed path at a looping station, means for drawing the string through said looping station, a looper head com-` prising apair of relatively movable parts rotatable about a single axis extending substantially normal to said fixed path, means supporting said parts for reciprocative movement along said axis, said parts'having lmeeting facesk having formations thereon cooperating to define a curved channel for said string curving away from said path when -said parts are closed upon each other, and cyclic operating means for opening said parts when the parts are positioned in oset yrelation to said path, reciprocating said parts along said axis between a first limit position wherein said parts occupy saidoset position and a secondl limit position wherein the channel-defining formations formerly remote from said path are in registry with the string extending along said path, closing said parts when the same occupy said second limit position to releasably retain the string in: said channel and deform the string into-a curved path conforming .to said channel during the return stroke of said looper head, and rotatfirst limit position to form the curved string section into a closed loop for reception of a hand of tobacco leaf stems therein. v Y

7. Apparatus for looping -hands of tobacco leaves or the like into bundles at spaced `points along a string comprising string-guiding means'for guiding the string along a fixed path at a looping station, means for drawing the string through said looping station, a .looper head Ycornprising a pair of relatively 'movable parts rotatable about a single axis extending substantially normal to said fixed pathmeans supporting said parts for reciprocative movement along said axis, said parts having meeting faces having formations thereon cooperating to define a curved channel for said string curving away from said path when said parts are closed upon each other, cyclic operating means for opening said parts when the parts are positioned in offset relation to saidpath, reciprocating said parts along said axis between a first limit position wherein said parts occupy said offset position and a second limit position wherein the channel-defining formations former- 1y remote from said path are in registry with the string extending along said path, closing said parts when the same occupy said second limit position to releasably.

of the operator during insertion of the leaf stems into said loop to initiate cyclic operation of said operating means, and means for drawingthe looped string about the leaf .stems inserted therein and withdrawing the same from said parts upon opening of said parts.

No references cited. 

